Tips For a Successful Boulder Mountain Tour

by Sam Young

With only a few weeks to go before your big race,you have logged hundreds of hours of interval training and thousands of kilometers of double poling and ski specific strength, right? OK well maybe not, but there are still a few things you can do to ensure that you have a great Boulder Tour(check out the Boulder Tour Map: here ) or other ski marathon.

Follow the tips below to prepare your mind, body, and equipment for a personal best race experience.

1. Take it easy the week before the race. Keep the volume of your training low but include some short harder sessions.

Here is a sample schedule

Monday: Rest or Easy ski 1 hour

Tuesday:15-30 min of intervals or harder skiing.

Wed: Easy Distance 1hr followed by a good stretching or foam roller session.

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 1 hr easy with pickups 5 x 15-20 seconds.

Saturday: Race

Make sure on race day you feel rested and excited to push yourself.

2. Get plenty of sleep the week before the race. Try for the typical eight hours a night, but if you can get more do it. Getting plenty of sleep in the week leading up to race ensures that if you are excited or nervous the night before the race you will still be well rested for a good performance on race day.

3. Focus on getting lots of high quality nutrients in your diet. Fruit and veggies are a great choice here but as you get close to race day keep your fiber intake in check. You don’t want your stomach to be working any harder than necessary. For dinner try a protein (chicken, fish, steak) with potatoes or rice and some steamed veggies. By eating a reasonable amount of carbohydrate a few days before the race, your glycogen stores will be topped off to fuel a successful performance on Saturday.

4. Don’t waste a lot of mental energy worrying about which wax to use or if your poles are light enough. Get a good wax recommendation and go with it, your local shop will probably me more than happy to give you a suggestion. They may have even had wax techs out testing on the course the week before the race. Make sure you have ski clothing to match the temperature on race day. Many races have been won on less than perfect skis. People have had top 20 finishes in the Boulder skiing with no poles, yes I said no poles.

5. During the race carry a water bottle of your favorite electrolyte/sport drink and set a timer on watch to go off every 15 to 20 minutes. This will go a long ways to making sure you are hydrated and fueled up for your entire race.

6. Relax and Have Fun! You will ski faster if you are relaxed and focused on staying positive. Remember that the fate of the entire free world does not depend on your race result. There are so many benefits to doing a ski marathon, I can’t even list them all. Give yourself a pat on the back and have a great race!